Coping with Interparental Verbal Conflict by Children Exposed to Spouse Abuse and Children from Nonviolent Homes

Children are distressed by parental conflict, but the influence of the conflict topic has rarely been studied, especially in relation to children's history of witnessing domestic conflict. Responses to three conflict topics (money, child-related, political candidate) were examined in two groups of 5 1/2-through 12-year-olds: 40 children who have witnessed spouse abuse and 72 children from nonviolent homes. Children listened to taped scenarios (with accompanying drawings) of two parents engaged in one friendly and three angry interactions. Children reported their feelings, intensity of feelings, and coping strategies. Children's emotional responses varied from sadness, to anger, to guilt depending on their age and the conflict topic. Primary control strategies for coping with family conflict (e.g., direct intervention) were favored for all. Boys from violent homes responded to certain simulated conflicts with more intense anger and sadness than other children. Results emphasized children's sensitivity to different conflict topics and advance understanding of relations between a history of witnessing spouse abuse and child outcomes.     

Globalisation,Transnational Political Mobilisation,and Networks of Violence

This article examines how globalisation processes provide new incentives and opportunities for non-state political entrepreneurs to build transnational political movements. Drawing on the literatures on non-violent social movements and transnational networks, the article examines terrorism and political violence as components of the ‘repertoires of contention’ used by radical transnational groups seeking political change. Examples from both the pre- and post-9/11 periods are provided, and the implications for traditional models of state security are discussed. The article concludes by contending that the combination of increased levels of globalisation and the emergence of new networks of violence is creating a fundamental shift in the international security environment, in which the distinction between internal and external security threats is increasingly blurred. While state security strategies are reflecting these changes, less attention has been paid to the political implications of these changes. New security responses need to also be matched by new sets of political strategies at the global level.     

Congress and the political expansion of the U.S. districts courts

Expanding the number of U.S. district judgeships is often justifiedas a response to expanding caseloads. Increasing judgeshipsduring unified government, however, allows Congress and thePresident to engage in political (patronage and ideological)control of the federal district courts. This paper examinesempirically the relative importance of caseload pressure andpolitical motives for Congress to expand the number of federaldistrict judgeships. We demonstrate that politics dominatesthe timing of judgeship expansion in the U.S. District Courts.We also show that both politics and caseload affect the actualsize of those timed expansions. In particular, we find thatbefore 1970, Congress seemed to have strong political motivationsfor the size of an expansion. After 1970, Congress became muchmore attentive to caseload considerations.     

Criminal Social Identity of Recidivistic Prisoners: The Role of Self-Esteem, Family and Criminal Friends

The aim of this paper is to focus on the factors that can significantly contribute to the presence of criminal social identity within a sample of recidivistic prisoners (N?=?312) using structural equation modelling. Six latent variables were identified: criminal associations with close friends, positive self-esteem, negative self-esteem, cognitive centrality, in-group affect, and in-group ties. Results suggest that criminal social identity is characterized by various internal and external factors including the direct effects of associations with criminal friends, which is influenced by insufficient or absent parental supervision at an early stage of development. It was also found that early peer rejection is not a sufficient predictor of associations with criminal friends and the criminal social identity. This study also provides further support for Social Identity Theory with regards to the role of self-esteem in the development of criminal social identification.     

Investigating the Latent Structure of the Theory of Planned Behavior and its Effectiveness in Explaining Intentions to Participate in Counseling among a Sample of Police Officers

Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to compare two alternative models of Ajzen??s (Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 50:179?C211, 1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The efficacy of the TPB to predict intentions to participate in counseling among a sample (N?=?259) of Irish police officers was investigated using structural equation modelling and based upon responses to a fictitious scenario. The police profession is a highly stressful occupation with many officers suffering from a variety of stress related psychological maladies that could be alleviated with effective psychotherapy. Understanding police officers intentions to participate in psychological counseling is an important endeavour. Results indicated that a modified version of the TPB in which the Perceived Behavioral Control factor was represented by two distinct latent control factors demonstrated superior model fit compared to Ajzen??s original model. Structural equation modelling results indicated that this modified version of the TPB was an effective model in the prediction of counseling seeking intentions explaining 92.6?% of variance in behavioural intentions. Self-efficacy (internal control) was found to be most strongly associated with intentions. Theoretical implications and future research potentials are discussed in light of current findings.     

Economic Democracy and the Expediency of Worker Participation

The increased discussion of economic democracy in America in recent years makes sense given the context of crises in Keynesianism, the welfare state, corporate legitimacy and American 'competitiveness'. Departing from Dahl's recent analysis, this paper argues that one notion of economic democracy - the internal democratization of the firm - can be conceived and plausibly linked to objectives of increased American competitiveness and community stability. The argument rejects purist schemes of universal cooperative ownership as well as so-called shareholder democracy. It proposes a representative system for the firm based on a balance among shareholder, employee and community interests, a separation of powers between boards of directors and management, and a concept of transition based on democratic development of already widespread employee stock-ownership plans.     

Evaluation of the improving access to psychological therapies for offenders programme at HMP Lincoln: a three year prospective cohort study

The mental health needs of prisoners are significant with a high incidence of common mental health problems including anxiety and depression. Extending national initiatives such as the National Health Service Improving Access of Psychological Therapies programme to people in prison offers a valuable opportunity to address these mental health problems and improve continuity of care from prison to the community. This study adopts an observational, prospective cohort design and evaluates an IAPT for offenders service over the first three years of operation within a male Category B prison holding remand/convicted prisoners. The evaluation found large effect sizes for changes in anxiety and depression with clinical recovery being achieved in 55% of depression and 52% of anxiety cases. On average, prisoners were treated in less than five sessions employing a low-intensity cognitive-behavioural approach. The lack of established formal diagnoses and a control group limits the findings.